XIV 



GATHERED BY THE WAY 



I. THE TRAINING OF WILD ANIMALS 



I WAS reminded afresh of how prone we all are 

 to regard the actions of the lower animals in 

 the light of our own psychology on reading " The 

 Training of Wild Animals," by Bostock, a well- 

 known animal-trainer. Bostock evidently knows 

 well the art of training animals, but of the science of 

 it he seems to know very little. That is, while he is a 

 successful trainer, his notions of animal psychology 

 are very crude. For instance, on one page he speaks 

 of the lion as if it were endowed with a fair mea- 

 sure of human intelligence, and had notions, feel- 

 ings, and thoughts like our own; on the next page, 

 when he gets down to real business, he lays bare its 

 utter want of these things. He says a lion born and 

 bred in captivity is more difficult to train than one 

 caught from the jungle. Then he gives rein to his 

 fancy. " Such a lion does not fear man ; he knows 

 his own power. He regards man as an inferior, with 

 an attitude of disdain and silent hauteur." "He 

 accepts his food as tribute, and his care as homage 

 due." "He is aristocratic in his independence." 

 289 



